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THE USAGE PANEL

The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.

2. oftenEarthThe third planet from the sun, having a sidereal period of revolution about the sun of 365.26 days at a mean distance of approximately 149.6 million kilometers (92.96 million miles), a sidereal rotation period of 23 hours 56.07 minutes, an average radius of 6,378.1 kilometers (3,963 miles), and a mass of approximately 5.9736 × 1024 kilograms (1.3169 × 1025 pounds).

3. The realm of mortal existence; the temporal world.

4. The human inhabitants of the world:The earth received the news with joy.

5.

a. Worldly affairs and pursuits.

b. Everyday life; reality:was brought back to earth from his daydreams of wealth and fame.

6. The substance of the human body; clay.

7. The lair of a burrowing animal.

8. Chiefly British The ground of an electrical circuit.

9. Chemistry Any of several metallic oxides, such as alumina or zirconia, that are difficult to reduce and were formerly regarded as elements.

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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